Mass Effect: Learning To Be Human
by DalekStorm
Summary: At the end of the war, after many years have passed.. Does Ellanis Shepard still know how to be a human being? FemShepxLiara. Takes place several years after the end of ME3, and Shepard has not gotten any weaker :)
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything related to Mass Effect, Bioware, or any of that stuff. I promise. Or ME3 wouldn't have ended that way, obviously. **

Ellanis Shepard woke up slowly, greeted by the sun rising. She immediately scanned the room for threats, and once again came to a suprisingly simple thought.

_The war is over. And I'm alive._

Sighing, she began the laborious process of dragging herself out of bed, only to have a small sound of discomfort come from next to her. Looking around, Ellanis remembered yet another large, yet simple fact.

_Liara T'soni is mine._

With a smile, Shepard leaned over and kissed the sleeping Asari on the forehead, then silently crept over to the bathroom. She turned on the water and stepped into the cubicle, allowing the warmth to wash over her body. Unable to break certain habits, however, that particular comfort is shortened as her shower rapidly comes to a close. Toweling herself off, she walks back into the room and begins to strap on her armor. Hearing Liara clear her throat, Ella looks back over her shoulder. "Yes, Liara? Did I wake you?"

Liara shakes her head and looks worried. "You didn't wake me. But why are you putting on your armor?"

The redhead blinks, and immediately looks down. Standing in that posistion for a moment, she then looks back at Liara with a surprised look on her face. "I... I don't know."

Sighing, Liara gets out of bed. Walking over to her partner, she begins taking the armor off with her biotics. "Ella, you need to pay more attention. The war is over, now come back to bed." Wrapping her slender yet strong arms around Ellanis, she held her for a moment before taking her hand and leading her over to the bed.

Ellanis shakes loose of the grip, then looks guiltily at Liara. "I can't sleep anymore, you know that. Once I'm awake, I'm a goner."

The asari just sighed again. "You need to start breaking these war habits my love. You need to be just like everyone else now."

"Liara, I don't know how anymore. I was always Commander Shepard. Commander Ellanis Shepard. That's what I was for years. That's what I've been since Saren, since the Collectors, straight through the Illusive Man and the Reapers themselves! I fought them all, helped rebuild, and now what? Nothing? Live a tiny existance, let myself be taken care of, disposed? Even if I can spend the rest of my life with you, Liara, I can't spend the rest of my life sitting around."

"Then do something. Something exiting."

"Like what? Press and publicity hound me everywhere I go. I've learned how to deal with it, but..." Ellanis reaches out and gently strokes her wife's cheek. "...you've always hated it."

"Ella..." Liara leans into Shepards pale-skinned body. ::I can't let you waste away like this. Not after everything we've been through.::

Ellanis almost jerked at the sudden mental contact, but then relaxed and responded. ::Liara, what do you want me to do? Everyone thinks I'm unnatural and awe-inspiring, but I just want to be human again.::

Liara smiles up at her partner. "Then we'll have to teach you."

**AN: I've been rolling the idea of getting back to Legends Rise somewhere in the back of my mind, but I don't really have time to sit down and dedicate myself to that right now. So I decided to write this story, about a Shepard who can't cope with everything being over. Hope you guys like, and please review. You'll get a shoutout in the next chapter's AN as a thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCALIMER: I still do not own Mass Effect. If I did, totally awesome. But I don't. BIOWare does.  
**

Liara and Ellanis walk down the street on Earth, hand in hand. Liara, dressed in a simple white and green dress, and Ellanis, in her normal street clothes; A grey hoodie with purple lines, and a pair of black jeans. Combat boots, of course. Ellanis walks stiffly, mainly seeming combat prepared, while Liara walks with a light step. Looking over to the woman in a hood, Liara frowns. "You could act a bit happier."

The Commander lowers the hood, letting her brilliant red hair and silver eyes shine. "I'm not happy. This place is too open."

Ellanis was looking around when she was slapped in the back of the head. Looking to her shorter partner, she saw a look on that beautiful azure face that just spelled trouble. "What?"

Liara pursed her lips, finally saying, "Lighten up, Shepard. Normal human beings don't analyze things like that while walking down the street."

Ellanis raised an eyebrow, but in her mind, Liara could sense that she was accepting that fact. Her stance visibly relaxed.

The two made their way slowly down to the local shopping district, when suddenly Ellanis caught a rock. Looking over, she saw a man getting ready to throw another one. The redhead quickly stalked over and lifted the man by the collar, growling into his face. Drawing her fist back, a blue aura appearing around it, she is stopped with a light touch. Whipping her head around, she sees Liara shaking her head with a sad smile. Turning back around, she puts the man back on his feet. "Explain yourself."

The man looks up at Ellanis with a proud look on his face. "Don't want no damn Asari on Earth. Everyone knows they're just wrong."

A twitch was the mans only warning before he suddenly felt a massive pain in his stomach. He would have keeled over, except for the tight grip that the tall woman had on his neck. Looking her in the eyes, he found a dangerous look in them. She began to speak in a low, dark voice. "Racism is something I fought against. I tried to promote inter-species relations. That's one of the many things I did as a war hero. Obviously, people like you slipped through the cracks. I want you to crawl back to the gutter you slithered out of, you snake."

Letting him go, Ellanis watched the man dart away, tempted to kill him on the spot. She began to calculate the exact amount of kinetic force needed to snap his neck, when a voice in her mind said,

::Now stop that.::

::Liara, why? He tried to hurt you, openly insulted you...:

::And things will change. You can fight these battles better with a name than with your fists. Start a cause. Personally fighting these battles will cause even more stress. Relax. Please.::

Ellanis sighed, and allowed her hand to slip back into her wives. "Alright. But I'm not putting this down."

Liara smiled broadly. "If you did, you wouldn't be you."

:TIME JUMP:

Struggling to open the door while carrying all of the groceries, Ellanis steps into the main foyer, with Liara a step behind. "You know, I could have carried more than one of these.." she mutters, holding up a small paper bag. Suddenly, the bag is lifted out of her hands, to float behind the redhead. "Hey!"

Ellanis looks around, a smile on her face. "Don't want to overburden you, dear." she says with a snicker, earning a glare from Liara's blue eyes. Walking into the kitchen, she places the bags down on the counter and begins to put things away. Hearing a sound at the door, she startles, and cautiously stalks over. Standing just inside the door, she retrieves the gun she had hidden in the flower pot. Counting to three, she whips open the door, holding the pistol at eye level, finger hovering over the custom hair trigger. "Identify."

Two three fingered hands raise into the air. "Hell, Shepard. I thought you could recognize me just on the scars alone."

Ellanis sighs and drops the gun to her side. "Garrus. Damn, you're still ugly, how'd I not see that?"

Garrus shrugs and holds up a bottle. "I brought some memories in a bottle, if you're interested. Also, I brought some other company." Stepping to the side, he reveals a concealed quarian. Waving a hand, she chirps "It's good to see you, Shepard."

Ellanis' smile grows even wider. "Tali! It's good to see you too. Come in, come in, we just got home so it might be a bit of a mess. Will you guys stay for dinner?"

Garrus and Tali both nod, and come inside, chatting happily. Leading them into the living room, they bump into Liara. Ellanis hugs her and says, "You will never guess who showed up, dear."

Liara looks around, greets her guest, and frowns worriedly. "I hope we have enough for four..."

**AN: Thank you guys for all of your reviews! I enjoy getting positive and negative feedback(although you guys have been positive so far) so I'm hoping some of you will review this chapter as well. I enjoy writing this fic for as long as people enjoy it, so yay! Next chapter will be dinner and after-dinner, possibly some drama? Yes, Garrus and Tali are a thing. I always thought that scene in the gun battery was adorable. Please review and enjoy! I will give shoutouts and some personal responses to questions and encouragements!**

**SHOUTOUTS!**

**Thank you, rakuzo, deathcurse, and Vemilyus!**

**rakuzo: Thanks for the encouragement!**

**deathcurse: I always thought that people should be shown adjusting. People seem to be obsessed with Shepard finding more fights. Shepard in Liara are always meant to be together, so yeah, my favorite pairing.**

**Vemilyus: I will be doing this as fast as life will allow, and I hadn't seen much of this kind of story either. Let's see how it goes! Stay with me! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer(Again): I still do not own Mass Effect, or any of Bioware's toys. Really. I'm sure.**

"...and so I became King of the Bottle Shooters!" Garrus roared with laughter, as the rest of the table joined in, Ellanis in particular, nearly falling out of her chair.

Mentally, Liara mentions to the hysterical redhead, ::I thought you said you missed that shot on purpose.::

Still laughing, Ellanis replies ::Maybe. But he'll never know that, and it makes for an awesome story. One of the moments of good from those times.:: Looking over to Garrus, she smirks and says "Hey, those bottles ever attack?" While the scarred turian spluttered, Ellanis finished off her plate of food.

Tali'Zorah giggled, and intertwined her hand with Garrus'. "Don't worry, love. Those bottles will need to be put down someday." Everyone laughs at that, and Garrus playfully pokes at Tali.

"Speaking of bottles..." Garrus grins and puts the bottle he brought on the table. "Why don't we drain this one?"

"Sounds like a fabulous idea. Let me grab some glasses real quick." Ellanis gets up and goes into the kitchen. Looking out the large window in the kitchen, watching the rain fall. "I didn't know it started raining..." Hearing a burst of thunder, she blinks slowly and goes back in her mind. "It was raining then too..."

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**Ellanis ducked down as the rounds caromed off of her barrier, getting into cover long enough to fully re-establish them. She screamed into her headset, "Garrus, take those fuckers out!" and listened for the three shots from his Javelin rifle, indicating to her that the enemy snipers were down. She stood up, thunder sounding around her as the raging storm continued, and wrapped herself in a biotic field, launching herself across the battlefield into a group of troops, which immediately disintegrated from the force of impact. She then launched a series of biotic shockwaves in the direction of some enemies in cover, sending them careening off into the atmosphere. Turning around, she blew away two troopers who had the nerve to get in range of her M-11 Wraith shotgun, incendiary rounds burning away the shredded bodies. She saw a Phantom agent running in her direction, and barely had time to aim before Liara warped them to a halt, allowing Shepard to utterly destroy the sword-wielder from a distance. The thunder crashed again, as the three man team charged into the rain. She heard Liara call her name.**

"**Ellanis! Ellanis!"**

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"Ellanis! Ellanis!"

The woman in question stirred and looked at her wife in suprise. "Yeah, Liara? I told you, grabbing glasses. Real quick."

Liara looked concerned. "Love, you've been standing here for nearly twenty minutes without moving. I was fairly sure you nearly stopped breathing at one point." She leans into Shepard's chest. "Don't scare me like that."

Ellanis stroked the top of Liara's head. "Sorry, I just started reminiscing about that mission on Trident. What a storm that was, huh?" She chuckles, and grabs the glasses from the cabinet, walking back into the dining room with an arm around her spouse. "My apologies for taking so long, just drifted into my memories a bit."

Garrus nods with a small laugh. "You think you drift off, I once woke Tali up while I was half asleep saying I had to finish calibrations on the main gun. I then immediately took a wrench to the bed!" Both he and Tali laugh at this, while Ellanis looks thoughtful "What are you thinking there, Shepard?"

With a deadpan, Ellanis says "I was just wondering why the fuck you have a wrench in your bed? Too much info there, you two!" As they all stare at the Commander for a short moment, everyone then bursts out in laughter.

Pouring the scotch into the glasses, and then giving Tali a straw, Garrus and Ellanis sigh, making eye contact. Garrus speaks first, remarking "Sometimes I'm not sure how we got through all that with as few scars as we did. Physical scars don't count here, I'm talking serious issues. Some of the things we did to win? Most people would have caved."

Ellanis wraps her hands around her drink, looking into the glass. "I survived a lot when I was younger. First Mindoir, then the Skyllian Blitz. I learned to make a lot of hard descisions. They stopped being hard. We had to consider the whole of the galaxy was on our shoulders. When we were stopping Sovereign, we took a lot of risks. The Collectors as well, even the Reaper War. We put ourselves on the line, and everyone looked up to us. Like gods." She took a large sip, grimacing as the liquid burned its way down her throat. "So we made the hard descisions, not giving a fuck about the consequences. You all were amazing soldiers on the battlefield. You had your own initiative, but if I said 'shoot him', he got shot. We sacrificed a lot of people. And even in the year after the war, we worked hard to build what there is now. I think that we became hardened, so that we couldn't be affected by it all."

The group is silent for a moment, and then Tali snorts. "Did you rehearse that, cause I swear that was a speech." And everyone laughs again, the sour note dispelled.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"I do hope you guys come back again soon, this was fun." Ellanis hugs Garrus and Tali, Liara doing the same.

Garrus nods. "It was great to see my old friends. It seems that most of us never see each other anymore."

Liara shrugs. "It seems like everyone else has better things to do. Ella and I are the ones who spend all day doing nothing but paperwork, aparently."

Tali rolls her eyes visibly. "I have a fair share of paperwork myself as a representative of the Quarian people on Earth. Garrus will never say anything, but he still sends reports to Palaven when they need his opinion on something."

Ellanis groans. "Governments. Never leave us alone, huh?"

Garrus mirrors her groan. "Ah well. Someone has to deal with them. Take care, you two."

When the two leave in their hovercar, Ellanis looks to Liara. "That was a nice suprise, but now I'm exhausted."

The couple cleaned up the ktichen together, and then they went to bed.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

_Ellanis looked around, her armor burned and charred from Harbinger's main gun. She knew what she had to do, but for some reason found herself unable to move forward. Unable to touch the white light..._

_Instead, turning around, she saw a group of people waiting there for her to look. _

_In the back of the group stood a slew of people from her life, people that had died. Her parents, her team on Akuze, even Jenkins from the very beginning of that fateful Eden Prime mission. Nihlus was there as well. _

_In the front stood another line of people. Saren, Matriarch Benezia, Mordin, and Kaiden Alenko._

_The first one to step up was Saren. "Shepard. You couldn't save me. That is your fault. You might have been able to stop Sovreign, but you had to kill a good Spectre to do it. Do you want to know the truth? In the end, all I was, was scared." He then took a pistol, pressed it into Ellanis' hands..._

_Put it in his mouth, and pulled the trigger._

_The next one to step up was Matriarch Benezia. "Human. You knew my mind was in there, and it was fighting the Indoctrination. But you wouldn't help. You killed me, and watched detachedly as my daughter cried over my body."_

_Ellanis protested, "I tried to help all of you! I wanted to save you!"_

_Benezia shook her head, as blood gushed from a hole in her abdomen. "You weren't trying hard enough."_

_She fell, and the next one to step up was Mordin. "Shepard. I don't blame you. Saving the galaxy and all that. But maybe, you could have knocked me out. Yes, possibly even find other scientist to do it. Yes, yes! Maybe it is your fault. Losing a friend over a species? I think you were just afraid to tell me I was wrong." Mordin stepped back, and was burned to a pile of ashes._

_Ellanis began shaking her head, as the final member of the dead, her personal kills of innocent people, stepped forward. The worst part of the last one was that he didn't blame her. This would be ten times worse._

"_Kaidan, I had to leave you... There was no time, Ash wouldn't have made it.. Kaidan, I..."_

_The Liutenant simply stared at his Commander, and after a few moments, looked away. He didn't die in a spectacular manner, he was just simply gone. The rest of the people there began dissapearing as well, leaving nothing but shadows._

"_I didn't kill you!" Ellanis screamed. "It's not my fault... it can't be my fault.. please..." She sobbed into her hands as slowly, she felt herself vaporize, leaving nothing but a blackened image on the ground..._

Ellanis awoke with an ear-piercing scream, startling Liara awake as well. "Ella, what's wrong?" When her partner didn't respond, she touched her shoulder. "Ellanis?"

Her partners silver eyes met her blue, and she spoke, in a cracked voice, "I didn't kill them... right? Was it my fault they died?"

Liara wrapped her arms around her lover, saying anything that she thought would make the hurt go away as she rocked Ellanis back to sleep. Deep in her mind, she cried for her love, and knew that this was going to be a long and hard road.

**AN: Hello again! I hope that the dream and Flashback were both clear and concise. Didn't want to make those a burden. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as the last few. No reviews for chapter 2, so no shoutouts this chapter. :(  
BUT!  
I will continue to offer shoutouts and answer questions put to me.  
Thanks for reading, please review and enjoy!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Discalimer: I don't own Mass Effect, Liara, or Commander Shepard. Especially all the drama. And the awesome.**

The next morning, Ellanis woke up in her wifes arms. Looking up, she saw that Liara was still asleep, mouth hanging open just a little bit in an adorable way. Smiling, she carefully maneuvers her way out of bed without waking Liara. Walking into the bathroom, she turns on the shower. Stepping in, she sighs and gets to work. Today she decided to relax in the shower. Taking a small breather, she closed her eyes and let the water sluice down her body.

"_In the end, all I was was scared."_

Her eyes snapping open, she screamed a little bit and slid down to the floor. She heard the bathroom door open, and watched as Liara came into the shower to hold her. "Shepard, it's ok, I'm here..."

Shepard shook her head. "Just a bad dream..."

Liara looked directly into the redhead's eyes, leaned over and kissed her gently, saying "You're lying to me."

Shepard moved Liara out of the way, shutting off the water. "Liara, what do you want from me?"

Liara looks at her with a sad look in her eyes. "I want you to be ok. You need to let go of the past."

Shepard stares down at her wife, and then leaves the bathroom. Sighing, Liara just sits there. ::Why won't you let me help you?::, she broadcasts to Shepard's mind, knowing that there won't be an answer.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

At a local bar, Ellanis cradled a tall glass full of Ryncol. Krogan liquors seemed to be the only thing she could stand drinking these days. Her implants had been upgraded, inadvertently, when the Reapers were destroyed. They had failed as well, so the techs had cobbled together the last functioning bits of tech they could find and jammed it in. In short, Shepard would live as long as her partner. But she can't get drunk.

The bartender walks down to where Ellanis was sitting, gesturing at her glass. "Rough day?"

Ellanis doesn't say anything for a moment, then nods. "Could have been better."

The bartender looks her up and down. "You one of those fighter types? Ex-military, like that?"

She glances at the man, wondering why he is examing her like this. "You could say that."

He looks around, and then slides her a card. "Anyone who can drink a glass of Ryncol like that is bound to be good enough to make some money here."

She picks up the card. Reading it, it lists a location and a time. "Thanks. I'll look into it."

Hours later, going to that place, she finds herself looking at an underground fighting ring. Seeing her, an official walks over. "You here to fight?"

Ellanis nods. The man grunts and looks her up and down. "What's your style?"

She holds up a bare hand, and then makes a fist of biotic energy. "Biotic combat." The official nods, gesturing towards a locker room, and then walked away.

Suddenly, she felt a push in her head. ::What are you doing, love?::

Ignoring the presence, she walked into the arena. Looking at the man across the floor from her, she rapidly evaluated his fighting style, and then whispered in her mind, ::I'm just working some things out. Don't worry.::

The man roared, and launched himself across the room. Ellanis sidestepped his charge, and slammed her knee into his stomach, causing him to stop with a grunt. Letting her body glow for a moment, she pushed her knee further into his stomach, and watched him fly backwards. Hearing his vertebrae crack upon impact, the silver eyed woman turned to the official and stated; "I think this fight is over. Who's next?"

Later that night, Liara was waiting on the couch. Cradling a glass of wine, she looked up as the door opened, admitting one smiling Ellanis. "And where have you been all day?"

Ellanis slinked her way over, and gave her wife a long kiss. "Letting off some steam. Nothing big."

Liara pushed Ellanis away, albiet reluctantly, and frowned. "You've been gone for hours. Dinner is cold. Is there something I should know?"

Ellanis cocked an eyebrow. "Sorry to have been gone so long, but there's really nothing wrong."

Liara sighed, and got up to hug Ellanis. "I trust you. I was just worried because you were gone so long."

Chuckling, Shepard kissed her love on top of her head. "I love the fact that you worry."

Scrunching her face, Liara leaned against her wife as they went to bed.

**AN: Annnnd another chapter done. I know it's been awhile, but life keeps me busy. I do hope this chapter doesn't seem contrived, but I feel that Shepard would have a non-standard way to cope with stress. Will Shepard continue with the fight club? Will Liara find out? Who knows. The characters do this to themselves.**

**Liara: What? I do not.  
Shepard: Face it, hon. We create drama. *grabs Liara, exit stage left.***

***blinks.* Well, that was different.**

**SHOUTOUTS! Thanks to Kate and Vemilyus for the reviews!**

**Kate: Thanks for the review! I always liked the idea of Shepard having PTSD. How do you like the way she deals with it? Stay tuned!**

**Vemilyus: All is forgiven. Of course Shepard is in conflict with her past, and Liara is really the only one available to help her! She may get a little emotional, but hey. She's Commander Shepard, and this is her favorite stress in the universe!**

**Please enjoy and review, I will continue giving shoutouts to reviewers!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: For eons(or however long Mass Effect has been a part of my life), Bioware has owned Mass Effect and all characters and intellectual property associated with it. This still holds true, and I do not own Mass Effect.**

Ellanis awoke in a cold sweat. Gasping for breath, she griped the sheets in her hands, trying to stop them from shaking. Looking around, she sees the time.

"One in the fucking morning..." she mutters to herself angrily. Knowing that she won't be able to go back to sleep, she gets up and takes a quick, boiling hot shower, in a hope to wash away the pain of her nightmares. She stood under the hot water, her palms against the wall. After fifteen minutes, she gets out of the shower and gets dressed in some fighting clothes. She leaves a note for Liara, saying that she had gone out and would be back later. She is about to head out the door when the comm in the living room goes off. Running over, Ellanis answered it with a quiet "Who is this?"

Garrus nodded over the call. "Shepard. Wanted to see if you could sleep either. If not, there's a place downtown where we can get some exercise."

Ellanis blinked at the scarred turian. "Yeah, sure. Send me the address."

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About an hour later, Ellanis walked up to the building where Garrus had directed her to. It was a simple building, and seemed to have no one inside. However, she walked inside, trusting in her friend.

Upon walking inside, it was a whole different story. The floor was covered wall to wall in tatami, and she respectfully took her shoes off before continuing. There were members of every race sparring, in every concievable fighting style, some even using biotic and tech integrations against straight martial artists. Looking around, she saw Garrus in his cloth fighting clothes. Walking over, she found herself facing off against the scarred turian.

Garrus rolled his head. "Morning Shepard. Just like old times, huh?"

Shepard shook her head. "Probably not. You might have gone soft."

They took fighting stances across the mat from each other. Garrus looked at Ellanis with a serious look on his face. "I've heard you haven't. You've been in the ring."

Ellanis stops a stares. "How did you know, Garrus?"

He drops his arms for a moment, then leads in and begins the fight. "Had a couple of old contacts look into your goings on, knowing you would never tell me if anything was wrong."

Countering a couple of wel placed blows, Ellanis raises an eybrow. "Spying on me now, old friend? Times do change. Did you tell Tali? Did you tell Liara?"

Garrus grabbed a blow that Ellanis let hanging, and threw her into the mat. "Told Tali. Figured it wasn't my place to tell Liara." Letting Shepard get up, he goes right back into it. "I invited you here to show you another option. Legal. Fun, even."

Ellanis trips him, and then launches him across the mat with a low kick, charged with biotics. She then raised a fist, and made a fake like she was going to slam it into his face. "Garrus, I can't. It's not the same, not a life or death fight, not..."

Garrus rolled and threw her again. "Exhilarating. Have you considered skydiving?"

Ellanis wanted to scream in frustration. Then she heard words that set her off, and nearly ended her best friend.

"Come at me like you fight underground. Show me."

What happened next surprised even Garrus, as his friend emmited a guttural, primal roar, and dissapered. Suddenly, she was in front of him, slamming his face in with a glowing fist. After he hit the wall, he felt her knee hit his stomach at her maximum speed. Coughing up blood, he barely managed to stop her from breaking his spine by slamming her into the ground and using tech bindings.

Looking up, Ellanis shook her head at her friend, a crazed look appearing in her eyes. "When I'm fighting someoe I don't know, someone I couldn't care less about, I can go full out. That was barely fifty percent. The word I wanted to say earlier was 'uncontrolled.'"

Getting up and allowing him to unbind her, she walked out of the stunned dojo, leaving Garrus worried about his friend.

**AN: Greetings everybody! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this last chapter out. Family, school, and life have taken most of my time, but I finally squeezed out enough time to get this done for you guys.**

**SHOUTOUTS!**

**Anon: I appreciate your very positive review, I've definitely done my research for this project. **

**QueenofOmega86: Thanks, I love rereading my chapters when they're done and going 'Wow!'. Also, I've always loved the idea of Shepard doing a sort of fight club thing, just to get past her issues. **

**Anyway, there will be another chapter sometime after the holiday season. I understand people celebrate this time of year, and I do as well. So thanks for reviewing and enjoying thus far, enjoy and review this next chapter, and a Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Merry Kwanza/Joyous Festivus/Blessed Solstice/Happy Holidays as well as a Happy New Year!**


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